Legacy of Failure
by Neku the Last Reaper
Summary: The long awaited sequel to Hojo Death 99 "One Failed Hero". Three months after Hojo's demise, we're all still stuck in the world of FFVII. Will we ever get home?
1. dmc

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or Devil May Cry or Kingdom Hearts anymore than I rule the world. (Give me two weeks and some candy and I can change that.)

**A/N: "This could all end badly… very badly," as Shigure Sohma once said. Back in January at the end of my Hojo killing saga I asked if any wanted a sequel to Death 99, "One Failed Hero." Several people said yes, so here I am working on Legacy of Failure for your reading pleasure. This is strictly humor and adventure, nothing overly serious (I would die if I became too serious). Rather than giving everyone screen time like the first one I will be telling this from my POV. There are several crossover/references in this so please don't take this too gravely as far as whether or not this is canon (it broke from canon ages ago). Also slight shojoai warning and a warning of OOC moments.**

I yawned, the phone rang breaking my concentration, "Devil May Cry, how can I help you?" I answered the phone. It was two weeks after my vacation with Melinda and three months after we threw Hojo off the Shin-Ra building and I had opened my new business, named for the same business that Dante opened in his game. Hell the purpose was the same; I made my money killing Hojo Spore Monsters.

"Yes I'd like to speak to my daughter please," my mom, the current President of Shin-Ra answered.

"Geez Mom could you not tie up the business line?" I groaned running my hand through my dyed blue hair.

"I'm sorry sweetie but in all seriousness I need you to come check something out in the Shin-Ra building," she replied.

I sighed, "It'd better be important."

"Yes, now be here in twenty minutes," she replied hanging up.

I stood up scratching my head as I pulled on my black jacket and kicking open the door, I walked down the street blinking through the rain. Goddamnit did she have to call me in the rain? Either way I plodded my way towards the Shin-Ra building, these last few months had been insane, apparently when my friends pushed Hojo off the roof there had been some serious complications. Hojo's cells had infected a small animal, and from there it bit a larger one. I like to think of it like one of those parasites that takes over a snail's brain and makes their eyes get all weird and turns them all suicidal. But basically once infected there was a very small chance that a person could overcome the infection of Hojo in their system. It was my fault we'd gotten stuck here in the first place, but hopefully I could put things right by destroying these monsters and restoring peace to the world. "Hey Kam!" I grunted getting tackled from behind; Ariella Hewley sat on top of my back.

"Ari get off of her," Angeal Hewley sighed as his daughter climbed off of me, "how are you doing?" He asked helping me up.

"I feel better now, but I wanna get out of this rain," I grinned shaking my hair out of my eyes.

"You've dyed your hair I see," he commented as we walked away towards the Shin-Ra building, "why blue though?"

"Cause silver seemed to be a little too problematic," I laughed, I'd gotten it as a nice solid wave of blue all the way around, it helped straighten it along with a few spiky locks here and there. "That and several people were annoyed by it therefore I decided to keep it."

"I see," he laughed holding open the door, "so your friends are doing well, most have been asking about you."

I shrugged, "well I guess I needed some time to think about what happened after Hojo died…"

"Ah yes you did destroy that machine," Angeal laughed as he watched Ariella shake herself dry, "Ari don't get the floor too wet."

She looked up at him, I grinned, "aww lay off Angeal. So Ari, how's Adarna?"

"Fine," Ariella replied climbing up on my shoulders.

"Wallace," Angeal addressed seriously, "we do seem to have a situation, and those monsters have started a convergence on Nibelheim."

"Ah Nibelheim, still standing last time I checked," I laughed as the doors opened on the SOLDIER floor, "speak of the General," as Sephiroth entered the car with us.

"Hewley, Wallace," Sephiroth greeted.

"So Boss what's up?" I asked. "Not often I get to see you around."

"Likewise Wallace, I take it we have a serious situation if the President called you in," Sephiroth replied, mako green eyes meeting mine.

I sighed, "I just wish she'd stop tying up my business line, I have to make a living and if she's holding up my phone I can't get anything done."

"Just be glad you have a mother…" Sephiroth muttered.

"Hey Seph… you okay?" I asked, being brashly arrogant to call the legendary General Sephiroth 'Seph'.

Angeal sighed, "Seph… you're worrying me…" he muttered as the door opened into the lobby of the President's office.

Standing around in there I saw a few Turks, including, "oh Mindy-chan!" I shouted running over to her and catching her from behind in a bear hug.

"Eep! Kamui!" She shouted in surprise as I glomped her.

"Mmm… lavender," I muttered pondering the smell of the shampoo wondering if she had just gotten out of the shower.

"What are you doing here?" She asked turning around hugging me.

I grinned, "got a call from Mutti. She said she wanted me to come and investigate something but it would seem there's nothing here."

"I see," she smiled.

The second of the Turks in the room glared at me, "for the love of Bahamut would you try and act your age. You're an embarrassment to heroes everywhere."

"Oh like your one to talk," I snapped at her, well technically Kamui Valentine was genderless but we had agreed on her gender pronoun at the start of her story a while back.

"You wanna start something?"

"Maybe I do."

"Bring it on you little wimpy excuse for a hero."

"I can take you any time any place."

"Here and now, I'm gonna beat your ass to hell and back."

"That's enough you two." Angeal commented coolly as he jabbed us harshly in the ribs. I sank to the ground, Melinda catching me as I did so.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

I closed my eyes, "I… I need…"

"What?" She asked leaning in closer.

I snapped forward grabbing Kamui pulling her over, "to do that! Revenge is mine!"

"Oh you," Melinda laughed helping me up. "I like your hair though, it's… interesting."

"Hell I can't wait to see my mom's reaction," I laughed standing up running a hand through the cascade of cerulean. "Besides I wanted to announce something very important in front of a lot of people."

Our group entered the office upstairs; I waved over at the two people standing near the President's desk, "yo big bro! Director!"

Rufus, who had somehow become my older brother after my mother took over the company, merely flicked his hair out of his face. Lazard, the cravat-sporting commander of SOLDIER waved back, "good to see you Kamui."

We shook hands, "long time no see brother," I grinned.

"Agreed, now I believe the President would like to explain the situation," he smiled pushing his glasses up his nose.

My mom swiveled the chair around, "what the hell did you do to your hair young lady?! And that piercing in your left ear!"

I winced, but what did I expect? "Hey Mom."

"Urg… you are in trouble when you get back from this," she grumbled glaring disapprovingly at my hair and the Cerberus piercing in my left ear. "Anyway onto business." A projector dropped from the ceiling accompanied by a screen. A picture of Nibelheim flashed on screen. "This is a picture taken three months ago," the screen changed, the city seemed to be swamped in darkness, "and this is where it stands today. That swarm of darkness seems to be a collective of HSMs."

"Looks more like a swarm of Heartless to me…" I muttered sarcastically to Kamui.

She snickered quietly.

"Reports say they're gathering in Nibelheim by the hundreds if not thousands. The infected have begun breeding with one another to create a larger army. We obtained an audio recording from them."

"Find Je… no… va… sum…on Omega… destroy… DESTROY!!" could be heard as a chant through the static of the recording.

"We've assembled an elite team to go to Nibelheim, I believe you are all familiar with the strange powers of the Keyblades?"

A collective murmur of agreement echoed from the group.

"We believe that the day that Hojo ripped open the dimensional gate between our worlds he also opened a rift between several other worlds."

I nodded, "so that's why they all look like Heartless, because they gained the powers of the Heartless from another dimension!"

"Exactly, we need the Keyblade masters to go to Nibelheim find the way the worlds are mixing and seal it off, once we do that then we should be able to locate any other dimensional gates and go home."

I saw Melinda's eyes light up at the prospect of going home, my face fell, and back home I was a nobody. Here I was a goof up, like back there, but here I could at least live out my destiny. But if she wanted to go home then I would do everything in my power to help her, "alright then, I assume I will be getting paid for aiding in this mission?"

"Certainly." My mom nodded, "now you are dismissed to gather the rest of the team."

I grinned and saluted, "cheers then guys," I turned around to gaze at the group, Sephiroth, Melinda, Kamui, Angeal, and Ariella stood there, a good group of six, but the best teams always worked in groups of nine. We still needed three more members to round out the party, "alright then, Autobots roll out!"


	2. Welcome to the Black Parade

Disclaimer: Ownership plus me equals zero.

I leaned back against the wall watching the SOLDIERs practice curiously; Zack was working with Lance, one of my best friends from back home. He was a year younger than me and supposedly transferring schools next year but he was making a good SOLDIER Cadet. "Move your feet!" Zack barked at him.

He hastily moved out of the way, blocking Zack's attack, "alright then that's enough for right now, I need to go talk to Kamui."

Lance nodded sitting down panting as Zack came over to me, "hey Zack!" He spotted me standing by the wall when he glared at me and turned his back to us. Ever since Hojo's demise he'd been having a rough go of it in SOLDIER and because of what I can only assume to be jealousy. See he's about the biggest Kingdom Hearts fan I know, and that's saying a lot, but he's always wanted a Keyblade so I guess he got jealous when the Keyblade chose me.

"Yo Koinu," Zack grinned, we bashed forearms, "so what's up?"

"We're rounding up a crew to take to Nibelheim, I wanted to take you along, but I have four people in mind but an ideal squad only consists of nine and I have six people already including myself."

He nodded, "well taking along an extra hand might not be such a bad idea."

"Yeah but I wanna make sure that the crew I take can handle this. We only have a vague idea of why this would even happen, much less what we're up against, and Zack I want you to come with us…"

"Sweet, what about Lance though? I'm sure he'd want to help too. He is from your world after all," Zack offered watching my friend.

"That's the issue though, ever since he found out I'm a Keybearer he's never been able to forgive me for it, if he's around both of us then things are bound to get complicated."

"Hmm that could be a problem. He has said for a while now that he wanted to be a Keybearer."

"Yeah and that's why I don't want him along, assign him to Presidential Escort or something while I'm gone."

"Alright then what about Seph and Bjanik, I'm sure you're taking them along?"

"Yeah Seph was a part of the initial group that Mom called into her office, Bjanik would make a good addition to the team, and I did have a couple of others in mind."

"So how were you guys planning on getting to Nibelheim?"

"I was thinking rather than taking a ship from Junon and going the long way around I was thinking we take a chocobo team through the mountains and past Fort Condor and then go to Mideel, then pass through Wutai as we head back towards Rocket Town, see I want to take the high ground in Nibelheim and that means the mountains."

Zack laughed ruffling my head, "seems you're not as dumb as you look! Alright then I assume that we're taking a small army to this fight the way your plan is going?"

"I guess so, but I still want to keep the strike team relatively small, otherwise we'll never get anywhere fast."

"So anyone from back home you were planning on taking?"

"Yeah," I nodded noticing that Lance had suddenly taken a keen interest in the conversation. "We roll in two hours, but put him on the job with Cloud, that should keep him occupied."

"Got it." Zack nodded leaving me to go out into the city, the first thing that came to mind was to head back to my shop and get packed up to go. So that's exactly what I did, after grabbing as many healing items as I could along with my meager compliment of materia I locked the doors heading out into the rain. Alanna and Lyana had both opened a weapons shop and I wanted to buy some new armor before I headed out.

"Welcome to our store!" Lyana announced loudly as Alanna and Nakamushi came out of the back.

"Hey long time no see…" I greeted before falling silent at the two incredulous glares. "So uh Nakamushi, I didn't know you working here now, you never wrote me."

"I'm not speaking to the idiot who's keeping me away from my family!" Nakamushi accused.

I winced, "um… can I get some new armor?"

"No now pay fifty gil and get out," Alanna ordered.

"Why do I have to pay fifty gil?"

"Because there's a standing fee if you don't buy something."

"Damn…" I groaned and set the money on the table, I slinked out of the shop.

"Bye bye! See you soon!" Lyana called.

I gave a half-hearted wave leaving the shop, well that failed so now I needed a nice CD to cure my troubles. I traveled a few blocks finding the shop I'd been looking for, a combination music store and yoga studio. Opening the door I sidestepped as Kira came flying at me in a glomp, she crashed into one of the trees in the shop.

"Afternoon Kira…" I sighed leaving her behind heading over to a small corner of the shop picking up a My Chemical Romance CD.

"Why is the Kami-chan sad?" She asked as she ran across the room to poke me.

"Its sad because none of her friends will talk to her."

"I'm talking to her."

"Yeah but you'd talk to a sheep."

"Where?"

"Never mind…" I sighed walking over to the counter with the CD.

"Ah Kamui long time no see!" Dibby waved emerging from behind a beaded curtain.

"Hey Dibby, so how's it going?"

"Pretty good, I see that my assistant found you?"

"Yep," I sighed noting Kira had once again thrown an arm around my shoulders. I set the CD on the counter sighing.

"Something tripping you Kam-Kam?"

"Yeah, I went over to the trio's shop and they threw me out."

"Can't say I'm surprised kiddo, you did mess up pretty good."

"Don't remind me…"

"But see here's the thing, you're working' too hard, so just relax. Just chill out, let life happen. And your total comes to nineteen gil."

"Thanks D." I grinned setting down the cash.

"Catch you later kiddo, come on Kira we still have inventory to check."

"Righty-o! Bye Kam!"

"Later…"

I somehow found myself wandering back to Shin-Ra listening to "Welcome to the Black Parade". Shaking my head I saw that my team had assembled in the lobby and all looked up as I entered the building. "Well then, it's show time."


	3. I'm Fight

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, Saint Seiya, or Robert Burns; I'd be Pegasus Seiya if I did.

**A/N Hi everyone! Sorry to say I won't be updating much next week. Going on a trip to a rural area with no Internet. Fortunately this means many story updates!**

"Should a body meet a body  
Coming through the rye  
Should a body kiss a body  
Need a body cry?" I muttered as we rode along on the chocobos.

"What is it?" Melinda asked.

"It's a poem by Robert Burns," I replied as we rode through the marshes near Midgar. I glanced around to see Vincent once again bringing up the rear with Sephiroth. We'd picked him up at his mansion, and after a little persuasion along with a bite on the ear from Ariella; he'd agreed to accompany us. "Okay everyone keep your eyes open, there're Zoloms in the area!" I shouted behind us.

Sephiroth glared at me, "I'm the SOLDIER General so why the hell is she leading the group?" He muttered to Zack and Angeal.

"Well Seph the President did put her in charge of the situation," Angeal replied.

Bjanik just smiled to herself watching Sephiroth's irritation, "you know getting annoyed about it will only make the situation more difficult."

"Don't remind me…" Sephiroth grunted watching Ariella walking along side the group, she had neglected a chocobo saying it wasn't right to travel on one.

"Ariella are you okay?" Angeal asked as they walked along.

"We're fine, but everyone prepare to duck," she cautioned.

"Why?" I asked only to be swept off of my chocobo into the air by a massive snake tail. "Whoa shit!"

A large snake, the two-tailed Midgar Zolom reared its massive head hissing dangerously, I thrashed around, "let me go!" I summoned Acrossing Two, cutting into the tail, as I broke free I summoned Fenrir using it as a skateboard to cross the snake's body, I slid effortlessly along the back of the Zolom shooting Fire spells at the head. Ariella had switched places with Adarna, who pinned the head to the ground with her chains; the rest of the group was busy attempting to hack into the scales.

"Be careful up there!" Melinda shouted as I slid further along the back towards the head until I suddenly felt my feet touch down. Fenrir had slid out from under my feet and wedged itself firmly between the scales of the Zolom. I imagined for a moment that the swords glancing off of its scales would be akin to flies, but my Keyblade under the scales would be a thorn in the side, literally.

"Whoa not good!" I shouted latching onto the thrashing body like a drowning cat.

Adarna smirked from where she was being held by Chaos in an embrace, "_**Well then what should we do with it?**_"

"_**Oh just toss it, no sense wasting all this effort,**_" Chaos replied.

Adarna smirked, "_**fine by me.**_" She spun around rapidly lifting the massive serpent into the air.

I clung on until the centripetal force flung me off right into Kamui and Melinda, "urg…."

"Get off me," the clone grunted shoving me off as Adarna flung away the giant snake.

"Are you okay?" Melinda asked helping me up.

"Snakes… why did it have to be snakes?" I muttered leaning on her.

Sephiroth walked over, "alright then, we're still on a mission here, regroup and move out."

Angeal had picked up Ariella, "come on then you, let's go," he climbed back onto his chocobo watching the red hair fade to black leaving only a stripe while she curled up asleep.

Vincent, having reclaimed his body, watched her silently as we continued on through the caverns towards Fort Condor. Most of the monsters kept their distance as we trekked through the crystal caverns area, after several hours, including my need to sate my Magpie Syndrome, we left the caverns to arrive at Fort Condor, a helicopter was supposed to meet us for the journey to Mideel then off to the rest. I blamed Sephiroth for ruining the chocobo caravan; he didn't seem too annoyed after the eighty-five stops we made in the caverns to allow me to collect treasure, materia, crystals and other things I could keep later.

We rode up to the large base; I dismounted and flew backwards as a fist connected with my face, "Kamui!" I heard Melinda shout, the other Kamui's laughed cracked through the air.

I sat up to see Rhianna standing over me glaring daggers, "you stupid idiot! How dare you show your face around here!"

I sat up watching as Melinda restrained Rhianna from a second attack, "wait what did she do?"

"You were there, you saw what the psycho did!" Rhianna snapped.

"She didn't know any better!" Melinda snapped.

"Rhianna that's enough," a young man emerged from the tower. "Don't you know the meaning of hospitality?"

"Right sorry…" she muttered, "you guys can come on up, but not you." She glared at me.

"Wait that's not…" Melinda started to protest when I put my hand on hers.

"No it's okay, I don't mind, just go." I smiled at her.

"But I don't want you to catch a cold or freeze," she protested.

Bjanik left where she'd been talking to Sephiroth and walked over to Melinda, "come on, have a little faith in her."

"But it's not fair!" Melinda protested.

I took her hands in mine, "I promise you I'll be fine so you go on inside."

"But I…" she muttered.

"Go on, I'll be here in the morning, I promise."

She nodded weakly, Bjanik nodded and led her inside, and most everyone had gone up without a second glance leaving me alone. It was just I and the young man from earlier with the chocobos, "hey if you have time to stand around then you have time to help me put this lot away."

"Yes sir!" I ran forward to assist with the chocobos; we led them around to the lower end of the fort into a small stable. Quietly I pulled off the saddles and bridles from the chocobos, I was familiar with the process on horses so it didn't come as much of a challenge.

"I'm sorry for Rhianna's behavior," the man apologized. "She has a bad temper sometimes."

"No problem, I'm Wallace by the way," I introduced myself.

"Dustin," he replied as we brushed down the birds placing fresh Greens in the bowls. "So what brings you and the Shin-Ra out here?"

"We're heading to Nibelheim, trouble's brewing and we want to come to the town from the mountains," I replied.

"I see," Dustin smiled, "so you work for Shin-Ra?"

I shook my head, "no, I'm a privet freelance detective and jack-of-all-trades, I work on my own terms but I was a little surprised when Shin-Ra decided to call in some outside help."

"Well I don't know much about that sort of thing, heard there was a massive upheaval awhile back," he shrugged placing the bucket of Greens on a rack, "but what's the story with you and Rhianna?"

"Not much to tell, I screwed up and messed up her life, messed up a lotta people's lives," I shrugged placing my bucket next to his. "But I've learned to live with the hatred, actually makes it easier for me to do my job."

"Ah well we all make mistakes, so you planning on spending the night out here?"

I nodded, "mind if I take a stable for myself?"

He shook his head, "sure, there's a bunk upstairs for the stable hands. I'll send down some dinner later."

"Thank you," I smiled as Dustin left. I left the building and climbed up the boulders and ladders until I reached the roof. Settling down I gazed up at the night sky in pondering, well I would if I was the type who could ever have a deep philosophical train of thought without writing it in a story. So my mind wandered over the constellations watching the stars twinkle into life, I started humming a tune that normally I wouldn't hum at school unless I wanted people to give me weird looks. "Dakeshimeta… kokoro no cosumo… atsuku moyase kiseki wo okose… kizutsuita… mama ja inai to… chikai atta haruka na ginga… Pegasasu Fantaji sou sa yume dake wa… daremo mo ubaenai kokoro no tsubasa dakara… Seinto Seiya… shonen wa minna… Seinto Seiya ashita no yusha oh yeah… Seinto Seiya Pegasasu no yo ni… Seinto Seiya… ima koso… habatake…" I was singing Pegasus Fantasy from Saint Seiya; sue me, either way I kept singing until Dustin arrived with some dinner and a bucket of water to clean off in. He didn't stick around though, since as soon as he delivered he headed back up into the stable. So I ate dinner under the stars, it was nice, some simple fish and rice with some soy sauce. I finished it up then returned back inside, washed off myself and the bowls before heading into the stable hand's bunk falling asleep on the bed.


	4. Mr Brightside

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, the Killers or Kingdom Hearts.

A/N: Rose is back in Doctor Who! So I am super excited, but I'm not being eaten by the cat anymore. So I managed to get internet to post with! To think he looks so much like Sephiroth…

--

"Are we there yet?" I asked Bjanik leaning my head on Melinda's sleeping shoulder.

"Not yet…" she sighed watching Sephiroth and Zack asleep using each other as pillows.

"You're sure?"

"Yep."

"Damn."

I reached into my pocket pulling out my CD player putting on my MCR CD, well this trip had turned into a real bummer since Seph's executive decision to go it all on helicopter. What we got was an airship, the Highwind no less; off in the distance over my music and the engines I could hear Cid cursing about one thing or another. Yawning again I fell asleep. I'm ordinarily not the type to have prediction dreams of the future, after all I don't have a dream I can remember that didn't involve me dying in some way, shape or form. But this time was different.

_It was the inside of the Shin-Ra building, outside the President's office. By the staircase sat cadets Cloud and Lance, Cloud stood up, "I'll be right back okay?"_

_"Yeah no problem," Lance muttered sighing as Cloud walked away. He turned his attention out the window glaring at it, "it's not fair…" he muttered._

"_What's not fair?" A whisper asked. I recognized the voice but couldn't find the source._

"_Why is she the Keybearer?! I'm a much better person to get the Keyblade, I like Sora and she likes Riku! I don't get why she should get the Keyblade!" He snapped._

"_Calm yourself, soon you will have a Key of your own, you will save this world and be free," the voice whispered._

"_I want it now!" He complained._

"_Very well then, come with me," the voice whispered, a moment later he was gone._

I sat bolt upright covered in sweat, "Lance!" I shouted not realizing I had also awoken Melinda.

"What's wrong Kamui?" She asked drowsily.

"I think Lance is in trouble."

"Lance?"

"Yeah you remember him, my friend from home."

"Oh him…"

"Yeah, I just got this weird dream and I think he may be in trouble."

"I see…"

"I should call back and see if he's okay."

"Kamui…"

"What?"

"How is it that when you have a weird dream about me you never tell me and suddenly you're worried about him?!"

"I'm sorry, it's just that this one felt weirder than usual… besides what's the risk of you getting eaten by a giant snake?" the minute I said that I remembered the Midgar Zolom.

"You're unbelievable!" She shouted before storming away.

"Wait Mindy!" I shouted as she disappeared down the hall. Sighing I pulled out my PHS, "hey Lance this is Kam, give me a call when you get this okay?" I left him a message with a croak shutting my PHS and pocketing it. Spinning around I kicked the wall as hard as I possibly could denting it slightly. My hands trembled violently, "why am I such an asshole?" I disappeared out onto the outside deck feeling the wind on my face, a surprising guest out on the railing. Vincent stood leaning against the railing letting the wind whip his hair and cloak around, I gave a silent nod to him joining him along the railing.

"Hey Vincent can I ask you a question besides this one?"

He nodded silently.

"If you hurt someone but you still had time to repair the damage what would you say to try and make them feel better?" Okay I admit I'm asking the wrong person for advice on people but I've always found the best source of info in the most unexpected places.

He stared out at the sky for a minute, "you mean you and Melinda don't you?"

I nodded, "yeah, see I was concerned about one of my friends back in Midgar and she got all mad at me."

He let out a soft snort, "you would be better off asking the twin."

I laughed for a minute; "yeah and then after she tells me what I did wrong she'd beat my brains out as payment for her advice."

A flicker of a smile crossed his face, vanishing almost as soon as it came, "in all honesty… I encourage you not to make the same mistake I did. Talk to her, no matter what."

"Thanks, I'm gonna go find her," I grinned at Vincent heading back inside.

Wandering around I eventually wandered into the cabins, a partly opened door caught my attention, I peaked through it seeing Kamui and Melinda curled up on the bed. Kamui was holding Melinda gently, while the other lay fast asleep. I stepped back from the door slowly feeling tears welling up in my eyes, well I couldn't blame her, and I honestly couldn't. After all, Kamui was everything I wasn't, strong, smart, fast, everything going for her, and I was just a broke joke of a nobody. A spark of anger and jealousy flared in the pit of my stomach, "_good you should hate her. She betrayed the trust you put in her_."

I spun around glaring around, "come on out you crumby bastard so I can rip your face off."

"_Kyahahahahahahahaha_!" a cackle pierced my eardrums.

"Dammit…" I sobbed slinking away to some nice dark corner on the railing outside, Vincent sighed simply ushering me back inside. I hadn't bawled like this in ages, I used to be such a wimp when I was a kid but that was several years ago. Vincent made me lie down on my bed in my cabin.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" he whispered as I keeled over onto my bed burying my face in the pillow.

One hand flailed around falling onto the clock radio, blasting out Mr. Brightside by the Killers.

'I'm coming out of my cage

And I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta gotta be down

Because I want it all

It started out with a kiss

How did it end up like this

It was only a kiss,

It was only a kiss

Now I'm falling asleep

And she's calling a cab

While he's having a smoke

And she's taking a drag

Now they're going to bed

And my stomach is sick

And it's all in my head

But she's touching his—chest

Now, he takes off her dress

Now, let me go

I just can't look its killing me

And taking control

Jealousy, turning saints into the sea

Swimming through sick lullabies

Choking on your alibis

But it's just the price I pay

Destiny is calling me

Open up my eager eyes

'Cause I'm Mr Brightside

I'm coming out of my cage

And I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta gotta be down

Because I want it all

It started out with a kiss

How did it end up like this

It was only a kiss,

It was only a kiss

Now I'm falling asleep

And she's calling a cab

While he's having a smoke

And she's taking a drag

Now they're going to bed

And my stomach is sick

And it's all in my head

But she's touching his—chest

Now, he takes off her dress

Now, let me go

I just can't look its killing me

And taking control

Jealousy, turning saints into the sea

Swimming through sick lullabies

Choking on your alibi

But it's just the price I pay

Destiny is calling me

Open up my eager eyes

'Cause I'm Mr Brightside

I never...

I never...

I never...'

I sobbed harder listening to the song until I fell asleep again, was it all in my head or was it over? Shivering I didn't notice the warm clothe placed over my body as I fell asleep.


	5. Long Road to Ruin

Disclaimer: Owning of nothing, that I am.

--

"I tried to be someone else

But nothing seemed to change

I know now, this is who I really am inside.

Finally found myself

Fighting for a chance.

I know now, this is who I really am.

Ah, ah

Oh, oh

Ah, ah

Come break me down

Bury me, bury me

I am finished with you, you, you.

Look in my eyes

You're killing me, killing me

All I wanted was you"

My arm flew to the alarm shutting off the radio without the aid of sight. Shivering and trembling I opened my eyes to something red, I touched my hand to it discovering it was an unusual fabric. Slowly I forced my body into a sitting position, which was when I saw I had Vincent's cloak on top of me. I caressed the cloak for a moment gazing around for Vincent; I couldn't find any sign of him in my room. I swung my feet off of the bed hearing a grunt of pain from the floor, "Vincent! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!"

"Fine…" he muttered as I handed him his cloak.

I watched him buckle it up, "come, we have arrived at Rocket Town."

Following him silently from the room we left the airship for the fresh green fields of Rocket Town. I gazed around the group looking timidly at Melinda and Kamui; I fell to the rear of the group beside Vincent as we unloaded equipment. I gazed around at the group, "well, well, a puppy in need is a puppy indeed."

"Zack be nice," Angeal cautioned.

"Hmm well Wallace I think I know what you wanna do," Zack had his devious grin on. "Ariella could you bring me some paper?"

"Zack what are you planning?" Sephiroth asked.

"Oh hey Seph, well I think the little puppy is jealous, so now we're formulating a plan to get the world back in order."

"If you need me I'll be with Vincent…" he muttered.

Bjanik meanwhile was in the middle of negotiations with Cid, "so then would you like to come with us?"

"Would I like to go with you? What the fuck kinda question is that?" He laughed taking a pull on his cigarette. "Like I'm gonna go with a buncha godddamn nutcases into that sorta fucking danger!"

"Well you miss out on a bunch of adventure," Bjanik offered watching Ariella scampering past with some paper and a pencil.

"Like I said I'm gonna pass, oy Shera! Get your ass out here and get me some tea!"

"Yes sir," came the meek reply from inside.

Bjanik shrugged watching me crowded into a cubby of SOLDIERs, Zack's familiar devious grin in place. Melinda stood with Kamui nearby, watching me for a moment. I felt my attention jerked back to Zack's plan. "Are you absolutely sure this will work?"

"Aww come on Koinu when have I ever led you astray?"

"Let's see there was the time--"

"Okay I get the point!"

A collective chuckle rang through the group, "Wallace would you like one of us to go with you?"

I smiled at Angeal, "can Ari come with me?"

"Ari would you like to go with her?"

Ariella nodded, "yep, it could be fun!"

"Ehehe, well come on then. Zack put on the music."

He grinned pulling his MP3 player and stereo out of his bag, "well Koinu I wish you luck."

I sighed before putting on the most confident look I could, "okay well if that's the way it's gonna be then grrrrrah!" I walked over to Kamui and gave her a good hard push kick.

Melinda went wide-eyed as I did so, and I picked her up into my arms bridal style, "back off and next time ask."

"What are you doing?" Melinda asked.

"It seems I had a weak moment back there on the airship, I know I should have called you more, and I am sorry for this. Lance and I are nothing but friends, of this I can assure you."

"Okay," and with that I hopped onto my chocobo and rode into the sunset.

I know what you're thinking, 'wow she finally did something right!' Wrong! That was how I would have liked it to go but here's the actual story:

"Well Koinu I wish you luck."

I sighed before putting on my best confident face, "hey Kam, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What, you ungrateful excuse for a warrior?" She asked walking with me around the Highwind.

"Erm… well…" I faltered for a moment.

"Speak!" She snapped.

"I was… I was wondering… could you… maybe lay off… on Melinda?"

"So that's what you think this is about?! And I suppose Vincent and you coming out of the same room this morning was just a pure coincidence?!"

"No he was just trying to help me!"

"Then why were you wearing his cloak?!"

"I don't know!"

"See? Now how do I know that I can ever trust you with her again?! She saw you two and she panicked again! So just stay the hell away from her."

I winced staring at the ground before glaring at her, "fine! You know what? I don't need your guys' crumby help! I'm gonna go to Nibelheim!" I snapped, before I could collect my thoughts I ran around the Highwind, leaped onto my now startled chocobo taking off at a gallop towards the mountains.

Ccccccccccccc

Bjanik watched me go concerned, she meandered over to Sephiroth, "you know sometimes I worry that you go to far."

"Me? What'd I do?" His voice didn't falter despite the question.

"Well, let's see, your clone just drove off my friend into perilous danger in the mountains," she replied.

"And how does this warrant you being upset with me?"

"Well she is your clone."

"Yes, however…"

"Give it a rest Seph, point is the puppy ran away from home so now we've got to perform lost puppy recon."

Melinda watched Kamui wide eyed, "will she be okay?"

"I doubt it," the silver haired girl stated, "but with a little luck we can find her before something bad happens, I promise."

Angeal watched Ariella for a moment, "Ari dear could you track the chocobo she rode off on?"

The young girl nodded, "no problem."

Angeal turned to Sephiroth, "we should follow her, and Ariella can only follow the traces of our lost puppy so long."

Sephiroth nodded, "alright everyone, saddle up."

Cccccccccccc

I smirked, my chocobo stood a short ways off trembling in fear, "now then, who wants to play tag?" I asked summoning Acrossing Two and Fenrir.

The swirl of darkness drew closer, the tide swelled washing over me, completely engulfed in darkness, I laughed seeing small glowing eyes peering at me. "Alrighty then, who wants to die first?" I fought my way through the darkness until I felt my strength draining away as the monsters overtook me, one hand slashing into my body from behind plunging all the way through. I keeled over gazing up at a shadowy figure. "_Go on, claim the Keyblade you should rightfully have had from the start._"

"Yeah, she's not fit to wield the Keyblade," I heard Lance say as my Keyblades were wrenched from my hands.

"Why… Lance?" I muttered coughing up blood feeling the large hole in my chest.

"Cause you got it all, look at you, a nice girl, power, talent, what's that leave me? 'This is my story and your not a part of it!'" Leave it to Lance to make his bad guy debut with a quote.

"Shit…." I muttered blacking out feeling my body get cold.

--

A/N: Did I really die? Why did Lance take the Keyblade? Where's Waldo?! He still owes me twenty gil! Stay tuned!


	6. Redemption

Disclaimer: Still don't own it, ya know?

--

I sat up, gazing around curiously into the darkness, gazing down I saw the large gaping hole in my chest. I won't go into the details of what I saw but I would gladly skin another pig over that description. But if my stomach was still in my body I would have thrown up in a heartbeat, but since it wasn't I had to content myself with the mental image of me tossing my cookies. When I recovered from the initial shock I sighed, "well who knew death was so black. I was expecting more, green."

"You are not dead," a solemn whisper encroached on my ears.

"Hate to disappoint you but I have a giant hole in my chest. Hell I have no idea how I'm talking with my diaphragm missing."

"No, I saved you." I could finally register the voice as female.

"Okay… so why?"

"You are the one to defeat the darkness and allow peace to be restored to the night."

"How am I gonna pull that off?"

"I shall save you and make you an equal to the one you call Lance."

"Um not to sound like a whiner or a pessimist here, but how are you going to do that?""

"I am the true lord of darkness, and the disease that Hojo hath imparted on this world is corroding my kingdom. You, child, are my best chance to take back my domain."

"Alright then, so basically I get to live and a bunch of powers but what's the catch?"

"You must take your sustenance from a mortal, one who you treasure more than your own life."

I sighed, "but what about her? Will she die?"

"No, she will gain your immortality for as long as you both desire it."

"Anything else at all?"

"You will no longer be able to utilize the powers of the Keyblade as a warrior of the darkness. That said, your powers will compensate for the lack of weaponry, now, when you open your eyes you will find yourself returned to home."

"Alright then, wait My Lady, what's your name?"

"Figure it out for yourself," was the last thing I heard. Slowly my eyes came to focus on the starry sky.

A small head butted into my side, "we found her!"

"Huh?" I sat up slowly, "Ari?"

"Morning Lunawalker!" She smiled at me, mako-enhanced eyes shimmering in the darkness. "We found you! So you aren't dead at all!"

"Yeah… listen Ari… when you started off, was, er, was Mindy worried about me?"

"She seemed really worried. So are you okay?" She asked sniffing my former wound, "you are a Lunawalker now, right?"

"Yeah I guess so… how do I look?"

"Like a Lunawalker, so how do you plan on fighting in the Sol?"

"Dunno, but where's everyone else?"

"Over here, come on!" She loped off, I followed her through the trees to where Sephiroth, Bjanik and Angeal stood searching for me.

"Kamui!" Bjanik called hugging me.

"Hey," I smiled.

"You know smiling is suddenly creeping me out, why do you have fangs?" she asked gazing at my mouth curiously.

I ran my tongue over the two pointy fangs barely poking over my lips, "um well the Lord of Darkness granted me life in exchange for becoming one of her servants. So now I'm a vampire I guess. But that's not important, where's Melinda?"

"She's with Vincent, the twin and Zack, their over there," she pointed behind me.

"Good, Ariella stay here. I'm gonna go find Melinda and talk to her," I nodded leaping up into the air heading towards her location by leaping along the trees. "Mindy? Vincent? Zack?"

"Koinu!" Zack shouted running to me.

"Hey man," I smiled, no point, okay bad pun, no reason to hide my new fangs.

"Whoa!" He stepped back slightly. "Please tell me those are fake!"

"Nope sorry… they're real, I'm a vampire."

"Kamui… is that you?" A soft voice asked me curiously.

I turned around seeing Melinda standing there, "yeah, it's me." I remembered something, '_you must take your sustenance from a mortal, one who you treasure above all others._' "Um, Mindy… did you cut your h-hand?"

She held up a bandage, "yeah I did. But don't worry it's just a scratch."

"Can I see it for a moment?"

"Sure but why?"

I took her hand kneeling down as I unwrapped it, "because," I muttered licking the blood off slowly, "I need this…" I felt her shiver slightly.

"Kamui, what's going on?"

"You are the one I treasure above all else." I muttered tongue licking at the blood desperately, finally sating my hunger I rewrapped the wound in a clean bandage. "Melinda… when I left… I almost died, but I was permitted to live, provided you'll take me."

"Huh what do you mean?" She asked nervously watching me.

"Would you become my life? In exchange we will both live longer provided I am able to take nourishment from you…" I gazed up at her nervously. I wouldn't mind if she refused me, after all I was so messed up in the head that I nearly drove her away.

She ran her good hand against my cheek, "of course." She smiled at me.

A wave of relief washed over me, "thank you."

"Okay enough of this, if you're a vamp then you gotta get ready to hide out." Kamui announced stepping out of the shadows.

"What do you mean?"

"It's five in the morning here, sunrise is at six, so you might wanna find a nice cave to hunker down in. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't die. All else fails you could hide out under Vincent's cloak until dusk." She laughed.

Vincent glared at her silently.

Zack shrugged, "well, no help for it, we gotta get you outta the sun when it pops up."

I nodded running over the various reactions I'd have against the sun, when I heard Melinda laugh, "well you could sparkle."

I felt a wave of dread wash over me, "I don't wanna sparkle! I don't wanna sparkle!" That was a worse possibility than a sizzling death.

Vincent calmly jabbed me in the ribs pulling off his cloak, he turned to Kamui, "run back into town and procure a hooded shirt."

"You got it," she smiled running off.

Zack and Melinda helped me up, "well at any rate we're not going to cross these mountains and be able to fight."

"Yeah, we should take a day to recover from the search," Melinda agreed.

I smiled at Vincent pulling his cloak closer, "well do we camp out or hide out in Rocket Town?"

"Rocket Town, no way am I camping out, I don't wanna lose my spike." Zack whined.

Melinda and I laughed, and Vincent let a small flicker of a smile cross his face, Zack glared at us, "hey it's not funny! Aerith said she likes my hair spiky!" And that only provoked us to laugh harder. He glared at us for a minute, "that's it I'm telling Angeal on you guys!" He ran off, "Angeal! Angeal!"

"Wait Zack!" We ran off after him, Vincent hung back shaking his head as he followed after us.


	7. Run to the Hills

Disclaimer: Me no own nothing. And if you flame me about hating Edward Cullen, you obviously have never read a halfway decent vampire fight scene.

A/N: I'M UPDATING! YAY!

CCCCCCCCCCCC

I yawned sitting on my chocobo buried under a hooded cloak and gloves, the sun was high up in the sky, "so are we ready to move out?" Sephiroth asked the group.

"Yeah…" I muttered sleepily.

We rode off into the mountains following a trail up through the mountains, however intuition told me where this trail led, my blue hackles went up, "wait."

Ariella stepped back, her nose in the air. A moment later she leaped into the air, hair burning a bright red as Adarna took her place. She let loose a torrent of fire, the monster in question, simply shook it off. My mind raced through the game enemies to which one we now faced, we reached one of the ones I always struggled to fight. I stood up, leaping off of my chocobo onto the back of the Materia Keeper. "Everyone be careful this thing absorbs magic and it's resistant to attacks until we can break the armor."

Kamui smirked, "well then that armor is going away." She summoned her Keyblades, leaped up into the air and spun around, "Arcana Breaker!" She slammed into the monster with a glowing attack, it staggered for a moment, a layer of shell breaking off.

I leaped back as the stinger attacked the silver haired girl. The stinger slammed into the armor breaking off another chunk. Melinda whipped out a pair of daggers throwing them at the opening in the armor. The beast glared at her for a moment then charged over towards her. She rolled out of the way of the pincers to hide behind a boulder. "Angeal can you get me up there?" She shouted.

He nodded, "Adarna can you hold back that stinger?"

"**_No sweat_**," she smirked looping her chains around the tail, "**_oy fang face can you disable this thing?_**"

I nodded, "yeah but don't call me fang face!" I leaped off of my perch on an outcrop of rock onto the pinned down stinger. I landed on the armored tail at a blank on how to take it off without hurting myself. "Knife? Knife? I need a knife!" I glanced at the long set of claws on my hands, "okay that works too!" I stabbed into the joint between plates, slashing through, sending the large barb falling to the ground in a pool of acidic goo.

"Vincent!" I heard Kamui scream.

A moment later I felt a convulsion rock the large beast underneath me, over in the right claw I saw Galian Beast breaking loose. Adarna smirked as she continued her hold on the stinger. "**_Okay fang face! Get over there and get Seph and Angeal out of the way. And make sure that Zacky gets out of the way too._**"

I sighed, "I thought I told you not to call me fang face!"

"**_Just do it,_**" she sighed exasperated.

Sephiroth had started to disassemble the left claw in sprays of the acidic blood. Nearby, Zack and Bjanik sat under the protection of Angeal's claymore while tending their wounds. A howl caught my attention overhead, my legs propelled me out of the way of Galian Beast as he dove into the monster's back, between the plates. I dodged out of the way of large bits of who-knows-what and ended up by my friends. "Is everyone okay here?"

"We're just fine," Angeal nodded.

"Where's Melinda?" I asked gazing around the battleground.

All three of them shook their heads, I ran over to the pale, mortified Kamui, "where's Melinda?" The silver haired Turk didn't reply, I rolled my eyes and slapped her. "I asked you a question!"

"I'm right here," she emerged from behind a boulder with a cut over her eye.

"You're okay," I smiled at her quietly.

"Yeah, how are you?" She asked.

I studied my hand with mild interest, "I would seem to have gained a surprising amount of strength."

She giggled, "you could give Edward Cullen a run for his money."

"Feh, I could kick Edward's scrawny ass in my sleep with my hands tied behind my back while wearing a straight jacket."

"Of course," she agreed calmly.

A bizarre rumble came from the hulking mass of the Materia Keeper. Galian Beast's horned head emerged from the corpse, covered in goo. He pulled himself out of the corpse and shook off the goo. Once clean, he reverted to Vincent, muttering something about how nasty the taste in his mouth was. Kamui sprinted up the corpse and over to the gunman. She hugged him tightly before smacking his head, "you dumbass don't you ever do something so stupid again!"

We both laughed as Kamui scolded Vincent, as we started to raided the corpse, I recovered the Counter Attack Materia from under one of the claws. "Alright then guys let's get across these mountains."

"We should take a moment to recover and check out our inventory," Sephiroth cautioned.

"If we do that then we're not gonna cross these mountains before nightfall." I complained.

Angeal walked up putting a hand on my shoulder, "we should take his advice and check inventory first."

Zack smiled, "no worries Koinu, you've got some time to kill!"

"Aww come on!" I shouted confused as to why they were making fun of me for this.

Well after inventory check the rest of the team pitched camp, since it was nighttime I was a lot more awake now. Everyone else fell asleep, I stayed up to study the moon and stars. I knew the names of a few of the recognizable constellations, finally the sun loomed over the horizon. The group broke camp and we set off to Nibelheim. The city, or what remained of it, loomed in the afternoon haze. I gazed out over the city, a large tower stood over the place where Shin-Ra manor once stood, through the streets of the town monsters swarmed around. All of them had yellow bug eyes, glasses shaped marks, black manes that resembled ponytails, and white coats that gave them the appearance of wearing lab coats over their undulating slimy, green skin.

"Ew, they look like mini-Hojos." Zack stuck out his tongue.

"Well Zack what did you expect?" Angeal asked smiling at his friend.

"You know we really should keep some of these, good way to relieve stress, killing Hojo over and over." Sephiroth nodded wisely.

Bjanik nodded, "damn I wish I had some ice cream."

Vincent smirked, "Lucrecia… at last revenge…"

"Amen to that, besides who wouldn't wanna kick the shit outta a buncha Hojos!" Kamui laughed.

Melinda smiled, "are you ready?"

"You know it." I agreed cheerily.


	8. Eye of the Tiger

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own it.

A/N: As a fun bit in one of the epilogues I may throw in my special friends from Spore: The Cult of Chaos. **giggles** I think that game has eaten my brain. But the story is starting to reach it's dramatic climax here soon!

CCCCCCC

"So then Seph how do you propose we deal with these things?" I asked curiously.

"Don't order me around," he muttered. "As far as I know, they seem to be emerging from the tower over there." He pointed to a massive tower with the beasts mulled around the foot.

"When the hell did that get there?" Kamui pointed out.

"Dunno, but I must say it gives the whole place a very Hollow Bastion feel to it." I laughed.

"What?" She asked confused.

"Zack, Bjanik, you're with Ariella and I. We're going to search for survivors on the south side of town." Angeal declared over my laughter.

"Melinda, Wallace, head for the tower, I'll take the other two and give you some time." Sephiroth nodded.

"How much can you give me?" I asked as my eyes checked the distance between our group and the tower.

"As long as we can, there are a lot of them. Your mission is to shut down whatever's creating these things." He ordered as he summoned the Masamune to his hand.

"Alright then, Melinda, when we get in the tower find the power source. I'll find Hojo." I grinned at her.

"But this is my fight not yours!" She protested.

"Fine. _I'll_ shut the thing down, _you_ kill Hojo." I groaned at how difficult she was being.

"Is everyone ready?" Sephiroth asked. "Go!" He leaped into the middle of the Hojo Spore army and started showing off why he was the SOLDIER General.

I picked up Melinda, "hang on tight!" I ran forward and leaped into the air. When I landed I discovered I'd reached the front gate. "Wow, I should go for a World Record when we get home."

A playful cuff in the head from Melinda ended that idea. "What about, 'with great power comes great responsibility'?"

"Aww, where's the fun in having power if you can't abuse it a little?" My face resembled a kicked puppy.

She sighed. "Oh stop it you." She climbed off my back and we entered into the tower.

I opened the door to what was once Shin-Ra Manor, only to be greeted by a host of scythe wielding Hojo Spores, "well looks like we got here just in time for the party." I pointed over the head of the crowd to a large, winding staircase through the roof to the second floor. "Too bad Mindy has to leave early," I grinned as I threw her with one hand over the heads of the crowd to the stairs. "Get going!"

"What about you?" She called after recovering from her wild ride.

"I'll be fine! I believe you have some business with the owner of these things!" I gave her one of my classic two fingered salutes.

She nodded and started up the stairs. I smirked, "well tell your boss he sure knows how to throw a party. No food, no drinks, and the only babe just left." One of the monsters charged me. I leaped up in an arc over it. However unlike the Materia Keeper, my claws didn't even scratch the surface. I landed on the wall, "well I guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." My eyes swept the room from my place on the wall, they widened as they examined the far corner. A perfectly decent jukebox, just begging to be used. A host of the monsters charged, until I held up my hand, "wait a moment."

To my utter shock, they stopped? I blinked slowly, eyeing them wearily, then I crossed the room lazily. "Leave it to Lance to put a jukebox in the middle of a fight." I checked through the selections after I reached the device. I found the perfect song on the set list. But when I pressed the button, nothing happened. I pressed it several more times. Still nothing. "Leave it to Lance to put in a jukebox _that doesn't work_ in the middle of a fight." I picked up my left leg into the air then slammed it down right on top of the machine in an axe kick. The metal crunched in a little but the music started playing!

"Memory all alone in the moonlight…"

I twitched before I brought my leg up and kicked it again. The metal crunched further in. Finally a decent song came on! Admittedly there were better things to fight to than "Eye of the Tiger". But this was better than nothing. However as I kicked it I had a scythe driven into my leg, so rather than setting my kicking leg down I swept it behind me flinging the Hojo Spore who attacked me into the wall. I ripped out the scythe dropping it while ducking another attack, I swung my leg out flipping the scythe around it in an arc cutting two Hojo Spore monsters in half as the scythe spiraled away from me slashing into several more before landing in the wall with a dull thud.

Two more Spores charged me, their blades crossed to try and scissor my head off, I leaned back as they tried to cut into me. I grabbed the weapons and back flipped while I kicked them both in the face. I rapidly spun the weapons around and decapitated both of them. A third one slashed at me overhead, I blocked with both scythes before bringing up my right leg and kicked him away. I rotated one blade over and spun the third scythe around like my Diablo yo-yo back home. The spinning blade swung around finally it landed in the wall impaling a fourth. I spun around blocking and slashing for a moment to take out the last of the beasts. I stood there for a moment before I smelled one come up behind me. I tossed one of the two remaining scythes behind me, impaling the Hojo Spore over the door. I spun the other one around it flung out of my hand cutting off the head.

"Well that was a poor warm up, I didn't even break a sweat," I shrugged as I walked up the stairs. Did vampires even sweat? Could they sweat? I had never heard tell of a vampire sweating. This was very confusing, but then a faint whiff of blood entered my nostrils, "Melinda!" I shouted running up the stairs, "I'm going too slow…" I growled as I entered another floor sprinting across the room. I need to go faster, she was in trouble and needed my help, I picked up speed but it wasn't enough. I needed to go even faster. I leaped towards the next set to climb up when my hands hit first, only rather than my hands I saw two sets of elongated black claws with red eyes on the top of each palm. My Titan Bracer, Fenrir Bangle and Ribbon still clung around my forearms. My Cerberus Relief still encircled my neck, and my Dragon Earring still held onto my ear, only I felt a little bit lighter as I ran. My body contracted and extended as I sprinted up staircase after staircase. The scent of blood became much easier to follow. I lifted my head and let out a howl. I continued to lope up the stairs and levels of the castle, my claws and fangs taking out any enemies. My third eye could see all of the enemies flashing past me as I ran at full speed. I thought for a moment, three eyes and black fur. I must be a Hell Hound or have turned myself into the form. Sweet!

I could smell the blood quite clearly now, I must be getting close, right? I saw another set of stairs, along with a couple of Hojo Spores, I leaped over onto one clamping onto its throat. When it feel over I leaped onto the other one repeating the process, I landed yarping out the blood. I was concerned about the acid level but I could worry about that later. Sprinting up the stairs, I returned to human form as I encountered a large door. Pushing it open, I saw the last thing I wanted to.

"MELINDA!!"


End file.
